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Chennai: Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday that the Aadhaar system would rein in middlemen and corruption and help citizens avail of various government schemes. He also said that any new initiative will face issues initially.

He was speaking at the 90th anniversary celebration of the Andhra Chamber of Commerce in Chennai. Naidu referred to the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme launched by the Centre and said: “Aadhaar is very much required to eliminate middlemen. It will eliminate corruption. We should really strengthen this. I am happy that more than 100 crore people have already enrolled.”

Stating that industries and agriculture were “the two eyes” of the country, the Vice-President emphasised that growth should be inclusive. Terming GST as a path breaking measure of the government, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said any new initiative will face problems but said the focus should now be on implementation of the tax reform and making it more people friendly.

"Any new legislation, any tranformation, there will be some problem and there are problems, how can anybody deny, the debate is on... let it go on," he said.

Once having agreed to GST, "now only think about implementing it and how to make it more effective and more people friendly and that is the idea." Stating that none should worry about criticism, he said the debate, however, needs to be "meaningul and purposeful."

Addressing the 90th anniversary celebrations of Andhra Chamber of Commerce, he said the implementation of Goods and Services Tax(GST) was a collective decision of all political parties and recalled his days as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs when he had mobilised support for the new tax law.